Top: Nur Malena Hassan set a world record in August by living with 6,000 scorpions for 32 days.

Reuters

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‘King of Teeth’: Rathakrishnan Velu (l.), also known as ‘Raja Gigi’ (King of Teeth), pulled a set of linked trains with his teeth in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Aug. 30, 2007. He broke his old Guinness World Record that day by pulling 297.1 tons more than 2.8 meters.

When it comes to breaking records, it's hard to beat Malaysia. Almost no feat is too minor or outlandish for the Malaysian Book of Records, a biannual compendium of more than 2,000 national achievements that is a riposte of sorts to the gate-keepers of Guinness World Records. Barely a week goes by without another record-breaking attempt on local TV.

For a nation of 27 million people keen to punch above its weight, this frenzy of firsts and bests is a source of pride, even if urban sophisticates groan at its mention. Government ministers oversee record-breaking bids, lending an official seal of approval, though none made it through the longest underwater checkers marathon (70 games played over 24 hours).

Malaysians trace their zeal for records to the go-getting 1990s when former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad coined the slogan "Malaysia Boleh!" (Malaysia Can!) to hustle the country forward. He ramped up economic growth, erected the world's tallest building – the 1,482-foot Petronas twin towers – and predicted that Malaysia would be a first-world country by 2020 if it kept reaching for the sky.

The Asian financial crisis in 1998 clipped Malaysia's wings, though, and Taiwan's Taipei 101 has since sneaked past Kuala Lumpur on the skyscraper charts. Mr. Mahathir retired in 2003, and the breakneck growth of the 1990s has proved hard to emulate as China thunders past Malaysia and its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Can-do spirit

But that hasn't dampened the can-do spirit of Danny Ooi, the local entrepreneur who published the first Malaysian Book of Records (MBR) in 1998. He says the idea isn't to outshine Guinness World Records and its more famous book. Rather, he wants to inspire his countrymen to dizzying feats, and then to bask in the admiration of the world.

"We're not competing with world record books. We're doing our own. People come to Malaysia and they will know what we have and our highest achievements," he says.

The next edition of the book, due in April, will have 30 percent more entries, but fewer that are as hazardous as the most days spent inside a box of scorpions, for example. "Safety is important," says Mr. Ooi. The book retails for 98 ringgit ($30) in Malaysia, and is supported by dozens of pages of advertisements.

Eventually Ooi plans to build a Hall of Fame with displays of memorabilia and an arena for record-breaking attempts. A tireless publicist who wears monogrammed sky-blue flak jackets with "MBR Official" on the back, Ooi oversees a skeleton staff of 10 in charge of certifying national records. Some attend record-breaking events, others monitor public submissions, send guidelines to events organizers, and judge which merit inclusion. A website offers another way to send entries (www.malaysiarecords.com.my).

As national record keepers, MBR spreads the awards between different areas of the country, making sure nobody feels left out.

The state of Sarawak, for instance, boasts the nation's first, and only, cat museum. Left unsaid is the global singularity of its feline theme.

The book doubles as a civics class, listing elected leaders since independence in 1957 and profiling deceased national heroes.

Ooi says his all-time favorite was a successful team attempt in 2003 to drape a Malaysian flag along the Great Wall of China. Twenty-three university students took 4 hours and 17 minutes to unfurl their 3.2-kilometer (2 mile) flag, beating the record set in 2000 by another Malaysian team who brought a 2-kilometer (1.2 mile) flag. "It's not easy to put a flag on one of the seven wonders of the world," says Ooi reverently.

Such record-breaking zeal is amply documented in MBR, but largely absent from the Guinness World Records, which has been compiling records since 1955. A spokeswoman says Malaysia represents a very low percentage of entries in its database of over 40,000 records (the US leads the pack, followed by Britain).

Guinness's loss is Malaysia's gain

On average, Guinness rejects 80 percent of submissions, whether for incompleteness, irrelevance, or sheer idiocy. That kind of cold shoulder was a crucial spur for Malaysia's go-it-alone book, says Ricky Yap, an editorial assistant at MBR. "Guinness didn't give enough recognition to Malaysia. We wanted to have our own book," he says.

Not everyone in Malaysia is wowed by the book and its circus sideshow superlatives. Some roll their eyes at its triviality. "Breaking the world record for the 100 meters, now that's something. Not eating the most sausages in one go. I mean, who cares?" says Shazli, a banker.

At an awards ceremony for the National Zoo, which holds a record for breeding birds in captivity, Ooi is too busy extolling the benefits of record-breaking to pay much heed to his critics. Why not focus on the positive and allow people their 15 minutes of fame? "It's inspirational," he says. "Seeing people strive can inspire the nation to excellence."

Malaysia's records:Bigger, better, faster, more

TREE PLANTING 110,461 trees planted in one minute. The event took place on Oct. 5, 2000, to celebrate World Habitat Day 2000.

LONGEST HULA HOOPING Nine-year old Ashwita Ramesh Nair surpassed her previous record for the longest hula hooping for a total of two hours, 12 minutes and 17.4 seconds nonstop. The feat was achieved on Oct. 15, 2005.

PLANE PULLING On Sept. 30, 1990, R. Letchemanah became the first Malaysian to use his hair to pull an aircraft. This Herculean task involved dragging a 32.5-ton (71,650 lbs.) Boeing 737 over a distance of 55.3 feet at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang.

TALLEST PENCIL A.W. Faber-Castell (M) Sdn Bhd took four months to complete a 66.4-foot tall pencil made of kiln-dried Jelutong sawn timber. The pencil is now housed at the company's premises in USJ, Subang Jaya, Selangor.

LARGEST BEAN ART A total of 250 students from the Central Academy of Art and 250 volunteers took two days and two hours to complete a 104-foot long, 87.9-foot wide, Buddhism Auspicious Design collage made entirely from 12 tons of beans.

MOST EGGS CRUSHED WITH THE WRIST Sivasamy s/o Balakrishnan of Panaikkulam Village, Perak, crushed 25 eggs in 30 seconds. He placed the egg on the back of his wrist and bent his fingers backward to break the eggs. The feat was achieved on Sept. 20, 2005 at his work place, the Restaurant Naina Mohammed in Ipoh, Perak.

SMALLEST SHREW The smallest adult specimen of the pentailed shrew (Ptilocercus lowii) of Malaysia has a length of 3 inches. It has a head and body length of 4 inches, its tail is 5 inches, and it weighs as little as 1.2 ounces.

MOST FREQUENT BEST MAN As of March 2006, Ting Ming Siong of Sibu, Sarawak, is still the most frequent best man with 1,395 times from 1975 to present day.